What are you afraid of?
by itsokaytobeafraid
Summary: "I know that you have stage fright, but why? What are you afraid of? You've got to overcome you fears, Ally. You've got to try to, at least once." Auslly
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! First Austin & Ally story and I'm making it a three-shot (I think?). Well, anyways, this is based off of "Being Afraid" by AVATAR's maddest hatter. Enjoy!**

**Who saw The Hunger Games? I saw it on Friday with my friends and absolutely LOVED it! My friend kept grabbing my hand and cutting off my circulation since she was so excited. LOL!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally, or else the two would have gotten together a long, long time ago.**

_What are you afraid of?_

The question swirled through Ally's head long after her conversation with Austin was over, haunting her with the answer that hid behind the innocent question.

It started like any normal conversation with her best friend, which included some joking and mentions of songwriting. But things started taking a turn for the worst when Austin brought up his latest gig at Madison Square Garden (I know! Madison Square Garden! Can you believe it?)

"Ally, you should come up and perform with me when I sing at Madison Square Garden," urged the taller blond.

Ally, who was writing in a journal next to him sighed, "Look, Austin, you know I have stage fright. I can't sing your song in front of hundreds of thousands of people, at somewhere so big." The girl shuddered at the thought.

"I know that you have stage fright, but why? What are you afraid of? You've got to overcome you fears, Ally. You've got to try to, at least once."

That was three hours ago. Now, Ally was lying down on her pink and purple butterfly bed, staring up at her stick-on, glow-in-the-dark stars that dotted her ceiling. _What are you afraid of?_ After a few more minutes of pondering, the petite brunette made her way across the room and grabbed her very familiar, "A" leather journal and a pencil off of her carefully and neatly organized desk. Ally plopped herself down on her bed, settling against the bedpost, ready to write with her journal open and pencil in hand. And finally, when she fully convinced herself that she really should do this, the girl put her pencil to the paper and began to write. It was very slowly at first, but soon she was furiously scribbling out the words.

_What am I afraid of?_

_I'm afraid of the spotlight and spiders, but those are concrete fears. I'm here to think deeper, more abstract then that._

_I guess that I'm afraid of… rejection. That's why I won't perform on stage, especially not what happened in fourth grade. I'm scared of being castoff as a girl with no talent, just another one of those wannabe singers and songwriters. What my dad said, about me having a one in a billion chance of making it big in the music industry, must have really got to me, because now that I have the chance, I'm to cowardly to take it, unlike Austin._

_But music producers and fans aren't the only ones who can reject me. I know me and Austin really clicked after we met and have been best friends ever since… but I can't help myself from seeing us as something more than just best friends. He's really sweet, like the time Tilly tried to destroy my career (if I really have one) and he came in a saved me. Or even the time that Dallas said her wouldn't dance with me, Austin refused to perform and used his time to give me the dance I wanted. I could write on forever about him, but that's not the point. The point is…I think that I want us to be boyfriend-and-girlfriend, but I'm scared that he will reject me. But I'm really afraid of things become awkward between us if he rejects me, or if we actually date, then break up. I really don't want to destroy the connection that we have. What do I do?_

Then, when Ally finished write out the very personal journal entry, she neatly tore the single sheet out, and carefully folded the note into a tiny star. After retrieving tape from her tidy desk, the short girl stood on her bedspread, up on her tippy-toes and taped the plain white star on her ceiling, along with the other greenish stars. Ally laid down on her comfy bed and admired her work, her eyes sweeping across her man-made night sky with a slightly bigger, whiter, and weirdly out-of-place star in the center. She decided that the one, very important piece of paper, with all her feelings, would be just like her very own, personal North Star, guiding her along her way in life.

**You like it? Please review. I don't know about you guys, but I kind of pictured Ally as the kind of girl with the stick on stars on her ceiling. But, that could just be me. Remember: REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**March and April are my busiest months, and right now I'm struggling to fit in time for writing. So I will try, not **_**will**_**, but **_**will try **_**to update this story and finish it (one more chapter to go!) in this month. **

**Also, anyone who reads my BTR or Kickin' It writing:**

"**Elevate: A Lomille Songfic Collection" will be updated soon-ish, like two-weeks (sorry! I'm really busy) **

**Thanks to the suggestion of GothBlue, "I Want My Sharpie Back" will be a two-shot, or maybe even longer (it depends).**

**I'm revising "Tough Girls Don't Cry" and will post chapter Four in about two weeks as well. (Finally!)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally :'(**

"Do you want to pay in cash, or do you want me to just put this on your tab?" Ally asked Dez, even though the brunette fully knew what the answer would be.

"Uh, you can just put it on my tab," said Dez, distracted by the fluttering butterflies he had just released in the store.

"Trish, can you help me get Dez a butterfly net?" the petite girl called over to her best friend, who was behind the… wait, where was she?

"Coming!" said Trish, half running, half tripping down the stairs, and finally crashing into Sonic Boom's customer service desk. "I'm okay!" she said, standing up."What do you need?"

"Can you get Dez a butterfly net from the Ira's Insect Emporium?" Ally asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, definitely, because guess where I got a job at?"

"Ira's Insect Emporium," Ally said, fully seeing what Trish was wearing… a giant Bumble bee costume with an Ira's Insect Emporium sign draped across her neck.

"How'd you know?" said Trish sarcastically.

"Really, how did you know?" said Dez coming to stand beside the pair. Trish and Ally look at him strangely before continuing the conversation.

"Trish, just help Dez clean up his Dez-aster," Ally says, starting to laugh really hard while Trish stands there with one eyebrow raised, and Dez just gawks like a confused little puppy.

Austin waltzed into the store. The blonde glanced at the dilemma before without even blinking, like it was normal to have butterflies in the store (well, it kind of was at Sonic Boom). He settled down on the piano bench and asked, "So what's everyone doing?"

Ally rolled her eyes and said, "Well, Trish was going to go to Ira's Insect Emporium to help Dez get a butterfly net." The skinny girl pushed her Latina friend out the door, with the tall redhead tagging along.

The brunette successfully drove her two friends out of the store, and plopped down on the piano bench next to Austin. "My shift's almost over. What do you want to do?"

Austin shrugged, "I was thinking about attending the Zaliens movie marathon. I've gone to every single one so far, and I'm not going to start missing them now."

Ally laughed and her best friend, "Okay, sure. We'll go. Just let me grab my bag." She headed over to the counter and reached for her messenger bag where she always put it.

"Wait, it's not here. Let me check upstairs." Austin patiently waited while the brunette hurried up the stairs to check the piano room. A couple of minutes later, the songwriter came out, looking quite frustrated.

"I just remembered! I left it at home! I'm so sorry Austin, but can we stop by my house to grab it? It will only take a second!"

The blonde stood up, "Sure, your house is only a couple of minutes away if we walk. Besides, I could use the fresh air."

"Thanks so much Austin," says Ally, bounding down the stairs, "Let's go!"

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The walk was a short one, and it involved lots of teasing and messing around. When the pair finally arrived at her house, Ally reached into the potted plant next to the door for the spare key and unlocked the door.

Austin and Ally stepped inside, and Ally bee-lined straight for the stairs, with Austin following her. The skinny girl pushed open the first door on the right to reveal a cotton-candy looking room, obviously a girl's.

Austin sits down at her desk, since that's always where he likes sits when he comes over. Ally, on the other hand, is frantically searching the room for her messenger bag. She digs through her closet, but comes up empty.

"You stay here while I check downstairs," she instructs Austin as she heads out the door and down the flight of stairs.

The singer spins in the white rolling desk chair, going round and round. Suddenly, something falls from the sky and hits him on the face. Austin stops spinning, and leans down to pick up the fallen…star? When he grabs the tiny star off the ground, he realizes that it's actually a piece of paper, cleverly folded into a star. Carefully, he unfolds the note, and realizes that it's Ally's handwriting.

He glances at the first line on the paper, and immediately begins reading.

_What am I afraid of?_

_I'm afraid of the spotlight and spiders, but those are concrete fears. I'm here to think deeper, more abstract then that…_

**Uh-Oh! Austin found the little note… what will happen? Review, and I'll try to update faster!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wazzup homies?**

**Haha. You like my intro? Update on my status (no, not relationship): Been busy, working on a couple of things to finish for FFN before the end of May. Redesigning my room, and having fun. I get to paint a bookshelf :)**

**Anyways, here's part three to What Are You Afraid Of? Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally!**

Never in a million years did Ally ever expect to make it big.

And yet, it happened.

Never in a million years did Ally ever expect anyone to read her book.

And yet, that happened too.

So why was she so surprised to find that Austin was reading her _personal_ notes?

We may never know.

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"Okay! I'm back! I found my—"Ally stopped mid-sentence as she burst into her room, her lost-but-now-found bag in her hands. What she saw shocked her. Austin was standing in her room reading something. And that something was a very personal note written from last night.

"No Austin! Don't—," But she stopped when she realized that it was too late. Tears welled up in her chocolate eyes as she realized what it meant. If Austin read through that one note, which based on the way he was looking at her meant he did, then her life was over. After all, Austin could never like her, right?

The petite brunette turned-tail and fled her own bedroom – or at least tried to. But something stopped her. Why did her clumsiness have to show up at that one moment? The shy songwriter tripped over her tennis shoes, which were strewn messily across the floor, right in front of the door. She let out a small yelp, and just as she felt herself plummeting down, someone caught her by the waist.

"Don't worry, I'm here to catch you," said Austin, right next to her ear. Ally looked up at her blond best friend and saw that they were literally two inches away from each other. She quickly scrambled out of his arms and tried to run – again.

But, a quick grab for her wrist, made by Austin, stopped her. "Let me go!" she yelled as she tugged relentlessly to get free.

"You know, you never gave me time to say what I thought about your note," said Austin while smiling.

That caused the songwriter to burst into tears. Austin looked at her, alarmed by the sudden waterworks coming into action.

"What's wrong?" asked the singer.

"YOU is what's wrong. You read my note that I made last night…and now my life is over! You don't even like me, and now our whole friendship will be completely awkward! Ugh! Why did you read it Austin, why?" said Ally, wiping her eyes with her free hand.

Austin finally let go of her wrist, "Your note just kind of, fell on me, and I was curious enough to read it. But Ally, you're wrong. Your life isn't over, and our friendship won't be awkward because…" The blond paused.

Ally looked at him in interest, "Because what?"

The loud singer nervously played with his fingers. It wasn't totally out of character for him to be nervous. But this was different. He wasn't performing. He wasn't singing in front of a huge crowd. He was doing something that should have been easier, but turned out to be a million times harder.

"Because I like you Ally. That's why things won't get awkward. Because I like you back," said Austin simply, being someone not fond of long explanations.

Ally stared, dumbfounded by what Austin just said. Was she dreaming? Did Austin actually say that? She punched herself to make sure, letting out a yelp.

"What was that for?" said Austin, his eyebrows raised.

"Uh, I was just checking to make sure that I wasn't dreaming," mumbled Ally shyly.

The blond teen chuckled, "You're not dreaming this is all real."

"You're sure?" questioned the petite girl.

"Yes, I'm sure."

A huge smile broke out on her face and she went up to Austin and kissed him – just a quick kiss, barely a peck.

"So can I get that I writing?"

**How do you like it? REVIEW PLEASE!**


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